In a 2006 file photo, Matt Kenseth (left) and Carl Edwards talk during a NASCAR testing event in Las Vegas.

During his NASCAR title push in 2011, Carl Edwards was courted by Joe Gibbs Racing. After much anticipation, he ended up staying with Roush Fenway Racing, lost a tiebreaker for the Sprint Cup, finished 15th in 2012 and sits 10th in the standings this year with three races to go.

Then last summer, Gibbs went after Edwards' teammate Matt Kenseth, the 2003 champion from Cambridge. The chance and the timing felt right, so Kenseth moved. He has won eight races in his first season with his new team and sits tied for the points lead with three races to go.

When viewed from a distance, at least, this would seem to be the source for many a face-palm moment in the Edwards' household.

So we asked him.

"That's a lot of assumption from the media perspective," Edwards said on a conference call this week. "I mean, if you go by everything that was written, I had already signed up with ... signed contracts with that team and stuff."

He laughed.

Presumptuous, Edwards called the assessment. No offense. (None taken.)

"And at the end of the day, I drive the No. 99 Fastenal Ford for Jack Roush, and I do that because I want to," said Edwards, who by all accounts received a nice raise as insurance. "And yes, just like a lot of guys in the garage, I had opportunities at multiple times in my career, and I've chosen the one that I wanted to be a part of."

Edwards and Kenseth weren't particularly close for much of the eight-plus seasons they were teammates. A caught-on-tape moment from 2007 in which it appeared Edwards was about to punch Kenseth seemed to summarize their relationship.

But what a lot of people don't realize, Edwards said, is what happened between him and Kenseth thereafter.

"We obviously didn't get along really well at one point, but to me he's one of the guys I'm closest with in the garage," Edwards said. "I really think a lot of Matt, and once I understood him and I assume he understood me a little better, I think that we were as good a teammates as I've ever had."

With almost no chance of catching the leaders, Edwards finds himself rooting for Kenseth in his battle with JimmieJohnson.

But envying him? Wanting to be his situation right now?

"Really," Edwards said, "that's not something that I think about too much at all."

Sorry, but ...

Greg Biffle apologized for yanking Johnson by the collar during a post-race interview Sunday in Martinsville, Va., but stood by the message he was trying to deliver.

"When I was walking over there, I was furious," said Biffle, who had to give up a top-10 spot late in the race to pit for repairs after contact with Johnson left Biffle's his rear bumper cover flapping. "Nobody knows this, but we had the fastest car the last 65 laps of that race. ... I had to start to the back and drove to ninth.

"The 48 car (Johnson) ran square in the back of my car, not inside of me, like his claim when I came up and talked to him about it."

Johnson reacted calmly while Biffle raged.

"I should have maybe waited till he was done," Biffle said, "and then had my conversation with him in private with no cameras or media around."

Put in his place

IndyCar driver JR Hildebrand foiled a would-be mugger Monday night in Indianapolis when he realized what the man was holding wasn't a real gun.

"I just told him to get out of here," Hildebrand told USA Today Sports. "I felt sort of silly later for not taking it seriously."

Hildebrand was walking his dog while also watching a video on his phone in Indianapolis when the man approached.

If celebrating's wrong

After clinching his fourth consecutive Formula One title Sunday in New Delhi, Sebastian Vettel did donuts on the start-finish line, got out of his car and knelt in front of it and then saluted fans by throwing his gloves into the crowd.

The governing body rewarded him with a summons to speak with stewards and a fine of 25,000 Euros for failing to follow post-race impound procedures. The penalty — pocket change, to be sure — would have been greater if not for extenuating circumstances.

One out of three ain't bad

Three drivers were asked Thursday in Abu Dhabi to describe Kimi Raikkonen "as a man and as a driver." Current Formula One teammate Romain Grosjean and future teammate Fernando Alonso said Raikkonen was a very talented racer but as icy on the personal level as he appears to fans and reporters.

Quipped Vettel: "He does talk to me. I don't know what I do differently."